Enter Sam, stage left...


The explosion happened precisely as planned and to the very second it had been scheduled. The sonic had been planted on the edge of the domed structure, away from the crowds of people herding their way into the building. The symposium had been designed to reflect the ancient Greek amphitheaters of Earth, it's wide, curved shape allowing panoramic views of the unique atmosphere.

The Io Symposium was a wonder of modern science and a prime example of human arrogance. Only a hundred years ago the structure would never have been conceivable; now it was one of the prime locations for diplomats, academics and the social elite. It's previously inhospitable location made it all the more beautiful.

Io was the fourth largest moon in Jupiter's orbit. It was also one of the most geologically active locations in the Sol System, with one hundred and fifty one mountains, many more than six kilometers in height, and half as many volcanoes that blasted ash and magma over two hundred kilometers into an atmosphere formed primarily of sulfur dioxide. The combination of elements resulted in multicolored plumes of toxins and luminous auras of lights that painted the sky: beautiful and most decidedly deadly.

The structural engineering that had been required to house any kind of life on such a surface was one of the pinnacles of achievement in its field and the result of six decades of work. The dome alone had taken thirty years to perfect and had to withstand both the crushing atmosphere of Io itself and the intense magnetism of Jupiter.

Setting off an explosion of any kind inside it was tantamount to insanity.

Yet the man who had once been called George Samuel Kirk did so without hesitation or concern. He was even inside the building when he did so. It was just a means to an end. It all was.

It had taken him exactly nine minutes to secure the four men and women he had hand picked himself from every hell hole in the galaxy all moving in perfect synchronization to achieve their ends.

There were a thousand guests in the symposium itself. Another two thousand more seated across four viewing galleries. Of those three thousand, ninety were considered VIP guests or speakers. They had been secured in the main antechamber of the hall. The galleries had been put on lockdown. Sam had no need to secure either them or the main chamber by force. He'd let the seismic shift that had followed the explosion trigger a security override and rebooted the system to his own OS. From there it was a simple matter of locking the doors. The only way to open them, or to override the timer he had installed on the life support system was through the PADD he kept on his person.

Even then, you'd need to be able to read Xindi to make any sense of it. There were only three people alive who could do that.

He was one. Hoshi Sato had been his tutor, and she was under secure guard, along with the rest of Sam's Very Important guests.

The third was Jim, his wild card. It would be Jim and only Jim who would override Sam's lockout, no matter how things ended.

And there in lay his problem. He should have been able to pick his brother out of the crowds, but neither his men or the computer had been able to locate him.

He needed Jim for this to work.

He turned to the man in the Commodore's uniform besides him. Joxer had never and would never been a member of Starfleet. He hated them almost as much as Sam did himself, but at six three and the height of physical fitness, he also looked the part. He'd been in among the crowd of guests dinning on champagne from the very start of the night. He'd been the one to ID Jim as being in attendance, and it had been that call that had made Sam trigger the explosion.

"Reports?"

Joxer frowned apologetically. "Sorry Sam. I've got K Unit doing sweeps of the lower levels – the east wing took some structural damage in the blast, it's possible he got caught up in it."

The idea that he had come so far only to kill Jim before they had even begun sat cold and slimy in Sam's gut. He shook his head. "No. He's alive. Pull T Unit off the perimeter – no one on The Enterprise is crazy enough to try a surface breach and the other ships in dock are all research vessels. We've got some time. I want him found."

Joxer nodded and flipped his comm. already relaying the message. He was a good second in command and had been with Sam from the start all those years ago. They'd been through hell together for this and Sam trusted him with his life.

He trusted him with Jim's life.

With Joxer occupied, Sam addressed another of his lieutenants. Tora was not the only woman in Sam's team, but she was the most fearsome. Nearly seven feet tall, she had never once said a word in Sam's hearing but she obeyed his orders to the letter. "Find Hoshi Sato. Bring her to me. Pick anyone in a uniform that you don't like the look of and bring them as well."

Tora smiled grimly and disappeared down the corridor as Joxer returned. "You're moving a little early." He remarked, frowning.

"Sato's a threat. And if Jim's just playing hide and seek, she's also a sure fire way of bringing him out into the open." Sam didn't need his eidetic memory to recall the way Jim had curled up at Sato's feet, eager for stories of Starfleet and the universes they had explored. He'd recite them words for word to Sam later those evenings, eyes bright with enthusiasm. Sam had always shot him down, not wanting to hear about all the things and places that had held such a sway over both his parents. Eventually Jim had stopped retelling Sato's stories. Sam had been relieved until he realized that they had been one of the only times Jim had ever really come alive. He'd been such a mouse of a child. Timid and shy, never wanting to trouble anyone, scared of drawing their mother's attention for fear she would overlook him entirely for the man whose eye's he'd had the misfortune of inheriting.

He'd honestly expected Jim to fade away after she had died. He'd not been able to stop it happening, and that was partly why he'd left. Now though... god, look at Jim now.

Sam supposed it wasn't Sato's stories that had brought Jim to life, but the universe itself.

"I know we've been over this," Joxer said, his pale eyes wrinkled with concern. "But are you sure this is wise? He's not going to be the boy you remember. And it isn't like he's some brat straight out of the Academy – he's a goddamn Captain. He's Starfleet's poster boy. I'd say he buys the whole friendship and goodwill spiel down to the last letter."

"I'm sure he does." Sam said quietly. Down the corridor, he could hear faint cursing and knew Tora was returning with Sato and another poor bastard he was going to put down for the greater good.

"And what exactly is going to change that?"

Sam looked down at the PADD in his hand. "The truth." He said.

The truth he had gone looking for had paled in comparison to everything he had found. By the time he knew, it had been too late. Jim was out of his reach entirely and then he'd gone and saved the universe for the very people he should have grown to despise. Still, all Sam had to do was show him. Show him what had been taken from them and why.

And when that happened Sam would be the least of Starfleet's worries.

When that happened, Jim would burn them all to the ground himself.